It's the corporate welfare which is the problem

An article published last week by Fairfax has left an incorrect impression on the reason why theTaxpayers' Unionobjects to the Government signing an R&D cooperation agreement with Israel.

TheUnion wishes to clarify that it is the nature of the agreement – that Callaghan Innovation's corporate welfare R&D grants will favour companies working with a particular country – not that the agreement is with a particular country.

"When asked by the journalist who called, I specifically said that as an organisation the country is irrelevant and tied my comments back to our long-held position against corporate welfare."

"The journalist then asked whethersometaxpayers would have an objection to it being Israel, and I agreed but said that personally, and as an organisation, we didn't."

I'm very annoyed that the caption below my picture on the Stuff website suggests that I objected to the agreement because of being "a deal with Israel whose military is in violent conflict with Palestine". Those words are Fairfax's, not mine. Similarly, where the article states: "Williams said many taxpayers would have an issue with New Zealand signing an agreement with a Middle Eastern country whose military continued to engage in violent conflict" - again not my words.

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The Taxpayers' Union is 100 per cent politically independent. We are not affiliated with any political party and will never become a political party. We work with all parties, MPs or candidates that share our objectives. We work with any and all political parties and other organisations to expose government waste and low-quality government spending. Individual members have their own political involvements, but as an organisation the Taxpayers’ Union is vigorously independent in promoting the interests of New Zealand taxpayers.